Omniture’s SaaS Offering is Critical to the Web’s Future

In Monday's post Trend Radar 2008: SaaS in the Enterprise, I mentioned that Omniture (OMTR), with its specialized application of Web Performance Management is gaining ground rapidly in the enterprise.

According to a recent report published by IDC, the Web analytics software market reached $397.5 million in 2006, a growth of 25%. Over the next five years, it is expected to continue growing at a rate of 16.1%. Web Analytics is increasingly becoming a critical function in this web-centric world, and Omniture is the category leader.

In an earlier post, I looked at how its services align with the Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) and Extended Enterprise [EE] trends of Enterprise 3.0.

2007 saw Omniture acquire four companies. In the earlier part of the year, it acquired Danish company Instadia and Touch Clarity, a behavioral targeting specialist. In September, it acquired Offermatica, an on-demand A/B testing and multivariate testing company for $65 million. In October, it acquired Visual Sciences, a provider of real-time analytics applications for $394 million.

For Q3 2007 that ended September 30, 2007, its revenue was $37.4 million, up 78% y-o-y and 12% sequentially. Its GAAP net loss was $1.1 million or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $1.3 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, in Q3 2006. Omniture’s more than 2,700 customers include ABN Amro (ABN), AOL, Center Parcs, eBay (EBAY), Thomas Cook, Vodafone (VOD), Waitrose and Yell.com. Its stock is currently trading around $29, and its market cap is around $1.8 billion. It reached its 52-week high of $38.57 on October 26.

Like Concur (CNQR), Omniture is a beneficiary of the SaaS adoption, and for the moment, a victim of the market’s skittishness.

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